Citation

Caplan AL. Hastings Cent. Rep. 1989; 19(4): 2-3.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11650222

Abstract

Caplan reports on a May 1989 conference, sponsored by the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Minnesota, that examined the meaning of the Holocaust for contemporary bioethics. Five themes were discussed: the role that mainstream medicine and science played in the creation of the Nazi state; what German scientists and physicians thought and did in the name of eugenics and euthanasia; the moral rationales science and medicine used to justify involvement with genocide, euthanasia, and racism; contemporary use of Nazi data from concentration camp research; and the appropriate use of metaphors and analogies to the Nazi era in contemporary bioethical debates. Conference participants included Caplan, Robert Proctor, Benno Muller-Hill, Jay Katz, Ruth Macklin, Robert Pozos, and three survivors of Nazi experiments: Susan Seiler Vigorito, Eva Kor, and Robert Berger.

Language: en